whats wrong with my clown?

disaster999 · Nov 11, 2007

so when i got him a week and a half ago, he was fine...swimming around exploring. now he hides at the back of the tank where theres not much flow, and hes breathing really fast...

he was eating when i got him, but when i tried feeding these 2 days, hes less than excited to see food....

Temp 78-80
salinity 1.023
ammonia 0
nitrite dont have test for it
nitrate 0
pH 8.2-8.4

i feed him ocean nutrition's formula one flakes, whenever i feed him the flakes, he rushes to the top and start gobbling up the food.

have the light on for 12 hours a day
leave the fuge light which over spills into the display (aio tank) so he could see at night, going to led moon light after christmas

maxi-jet 900 return + small powerhead in the tank (around less than 100gph flow rate)
plan replacing the small power head with a koralia nano later

4 piece of coral in the tank. frogspawn, frag of GPS, frag of zoo, tiny small piece of hammer

14lb of live rock, 18lb of live sand, 3lb of live rubble ball of cheato

tank is a month and a week old.
i havent seem him trying to host the frog spawn.

i did acclimate him. put him with the bag in the water and add my tank water every 15 mins for an hour.
i didnt notice any wounds when i got him

heres what he looks like right now

theres some white spots on him

ServantSoldier · Nov 11, 2007

more than likely going to be ich. thats not much of an outbreak. clowns are pretty hardy fish and he will probably pull through after a few weeks of dropping and getting it again. you can try and feed him some food soaked in garlic and feed him often. however, the best solution would be to pull him out and treat him in another tank with hyposalinity. ~1.009 Do you have any other fish in the tank? This is a common problem with acquiring new fish, as ichs breeding grounds are pet stores. good luck!

disaster999 · Nov 11, 2007

hes the only fish in there right now. and i dont have a spare tank. all i have are buckets. could i use a bucket to QT him?

ServantSoldier · Nov 11, 2007

i think he would have a better chance in the display and fighting it himself. thats what I would do if it were me. just know that he will lose it, and it will come back in a week or two.. and that process might happen a couple times. the other down side to this is he might carry the ich, but not show signs but still infect your next fish. its a challenge to decide to risk it or dish out $20 for 20gal QT, or $10 for a 10 for that matter.